Colima Pygmy Owl

Overview

The Colima pygmy owl is a small species of owl in the family Strigidae, endemic to the western part of Mexico. The International Ornithological Committee treats it as a monotypic species, although other taxonomic systems recognise three subspecies.

Identification

• Measures 13 to 15 cm in length, with males weighing between 43 and 48 g.
• Head and back are brown, wings are mostly grayish brown, and the tail is a deeper grayish brown.
• Features small dull white spots on the head, white spots along the closed wing, and oval white spots forming bands on the tail.
• Face has dull white "eyebrows" and a pair of dark "eye spots" on the nape, while underparts are buffy white with wide cinnamon stripes.
• Song described as a hollow hooting with a variable, often increasing, number of notes, potentially reaching up to 24 in a series.

Habitat

Found in western Mexico from central Sonora south to Oaxaca, ranging from sea level up to 1,500 m in elevation. It inhabits thorn, tropical deciduous, lowland tropical evergreen, and the lower parts of humid montane forests, as well as coffee plantations.

Diet

The Colima pygmy owl is primarily nocturnal but also active in daytime, foraging in the mid levels of the forest. Little is known about its diet, which is presumed to consist of large arthropods and small vertebrates.

Did you know?

Breeding phenology is essentially unknown, though the species is thought to be socially monogamous and presumed to nest in tree cavities.